


Little Brother

by Sphenimersus



Series: Ace's Brother Complex [2]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Marineford Events, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Brother Complex, Everybody Lives/Nobody Dies, Gen, Light Angst, Portgas D. Ace Lives, it's Ace what did you expect -_-
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:34:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27978162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sphenimersus/pseuds/Sphenimersus
Summary: Ace watched in horror as Luffy gradually fell to his knees. The surrounding marines took the opportunity to take a stab at the rubber boy, and all Ace could think of was that he needed to get his little brother to safety.(Or: Luffy passed out from exhaustion before Akainu insulted Whitebeard, so the admiral's taunts fell to semi-deaf ears.)
Relationships: Monkey D. Luffy & Portgas D. Ace
Series: Ace's Brother Complex [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2049096
Comments: 14
Kudos: 272





	Little Brother

**Author's Note:**

> A comment from [Lord_Jay](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lord_Jay/pseuds/Lord_Jay) has made me realize that I could make a series of one shots highlighting Ace's brother complex. And well, who am I to deny such a wonderful idea?
> 
> This one is a little angsty, but it's Marineford which pretty much explains everything imo. This fic has a more serious take on Ace's brother complex.

Ace watched in horror as Luffy gradually fell to his knees. The surrounding marines took the opportunity to take a stab at the rubber boy, and all Ace could think of was that he needed to get his little brother to safety.

**_"LUFFY!"_ **

Ace wasn't sure what happened, but the surrounding marines collapsed at his outburst. Even so, the Whitebeard commander couldn't focus because _his little brother wasn't getting up._ He picked up Luffy and wrapped his arms around the younger's wiry body.

Ace felt Luffy's shallow breath on top of his shoulders. He felt Luffy's heart weakly beating against his chest. (His own heart was racing and going at what seemed to be twice as fast as Luffy's heart.)

Heat approached from behind them, and Ace couldn't help but remember the fire at Gray Terminal. Akainu was approaching behind them, much like Bluejam and his motley crew.

"...bunch of cowards… Whitebeard is after all, just a 'failure' of the previous era…"

Ace desperately wanted to stop and punch the marine admiral, but he couldn't. Not with Luffy still in danger while they were in the middle of a battlefield. 

"...decades without becoming a king… ain't that the emptiest life ever?"

"Shut up!!" The fire logia shouted over his shoulder. He continued to run towards their allies, Luffy resting fitfully in his arms. Ace couldn't let go of his little brother. Not when the marines were hunting them down like rabid dogs. Not when there was no one Ace could fully trust with his little brother's life. Dadan wasn't here like she was back in Gray Terminal. (His crew brothers were here, and Ace trusted them with his life. But after seeing Squard stab Pops, Ace couldn't trust anyone here with _Luffy's_ life. Honestly, Ace couldn't trust _anyone_ with Luffy's life.)

"Whitebeard is a failure!"

 _Fuck, this shitty bastard_ , Ace gritted his teeth. He skidded to a stop to turn around, but rubbery fingers gripped his arm. Ace felt salty tears on his shoulders and heard soft, sad mutterings.

_"Ace… Sabo…"_

And shit, Ace recalled the way Luffy cried when he returned with Dadan. How Luffy explained through snots and tears that he thought they had died. Then the news of Sabo had come, and Luffy cried endlessly for _days_. The thought of Luffy waking up with the knowledge that neither of his brothers were with him physically hurt Ace.

_"Being alone hurts more than anything else!"_

The words haunted Ace's mind.

_"Ace, please don't die."_

_"Listen up, Luffy. I promise that I won't die!"_

A promise. Ace needed to keep that promise. He needed to be next to Luffy when he woke up, or the idiot would think he died. Ace couldn't let Luffy think that for even a second. And so, for the first time in his life, Portgas D. Ace turned his back and _ran._

However, that momentary pause when Ace had stopped cost them precious time, and Akainu had sent flying lava in their direction. Ace didn't notice in time, but his body automatically reacted as the molten rock passed through his body only to land directly on Luffy's chest. (Ace never expected that he would one day curse his logia body, but here he was, hating the fact his body automatically reacted and let the solid rock pass through his body harmlessly.)

Luffy woke up with a muted scream momentarily in pain, and Ace could tell that Luffy was likely hallucinating when he babbled about a hole in Ace's body.

"A-ace?" Luff weakly muttered. "D-don't die. You _can't_ die."

Ace shoved off the molten rock on his younger brother's chest and tightened his hold around Luffy. He whispered, "Don't worry, Lu. I promised. Now go back to sleep."

With Luffy no longer conscious again, Ace tossed aside all of his other thoughts in favor of focusing on getting away from the magma admiral. Any further insults from Akainu fell to deaf ears because _Luffy needed him_. Luffy needed him _alive_.

Despite the war the Whitebeard Pirates went through for him, Ace couldn't be certain that they would still want him after everything had happened. But Luffy. Ace _knew_ Luffy. Luffy, his precious little brother, would stop at nothing to keep Ace safe.

After all, that idiot little brother followed him and tried to become his friend despite nearly being killed countless times in a span of three months.

That idiot little brother kept a secret that wasn't his while being beaten with spiked gloves.

That idiot little brother continued to cling to him despite acting too late to save him from an angry bear.

That idiot little brother infiltrated Impel Down, caused a mass prison breakout, and then proceeded to raid Marineford just to get Ace out of his chains.

That idiot little brother was a fool, but this was _his_ idiot little brother. Ace couldn't stop now because he _knew_ that even if the world wanted him dead, his baby brother needed him alive. And really, while Ace didn't particularly care about his own life, he _did_ care about what Luffy wanted and needed. He was the big brother, so he had to take care of his little brother. Everything was not important when compared to Luffy's desires. Which also meant that Ace's temper and self-hatred had to take the back seat while Ace found his way to a place that was safe for his little brother.

* * *

Whitebeard and the commanders were nervous when they heard Akainu's trash talk. They were all familiar with Ace's temper, and they were certain that their youngest would turn and face the admiral despite his weakened state. They tensed when they heard Ace shout at the magma man to shut up. Some _saw_ the second commander pause for half a second, and Izou shouted, "Don't get provoked by his talk, Ace!! Get back here!"

They all knew that Ace hadn't heard the words when he glared at Akainu, but they then saw him tense his arms around Straw Hat who had collapsed a few seconds earlier. (Those closer to Ivankov heard the okama say that Straw Hat must have finally crashed.) Then, Ace turned around and _ran_.

If asked, the Whitebeard Pirates would say they witnessed a miracle. Portgas D. Ace, turning his back to the enemy. Whitebeard shouted, "Sons, protect them!"

The Whitebeard Pirates fought with renewed vigor because they had seen a true miracle. Prior to this, many had questioned whether or not Straw Hat should be on the battlefield despite being a rookie, but they had just witnessed (and heard) a number of miracles from the young pirate captain.

In the minds of many New World pirates, the kid had earned his place in this war.

The kid had guts and broke into Impel fucking Down, the most secure prison in the world.

The kid then caused a mass breakout of Impel Down, completely destroying its reputation as the impenetrable prison.

The kid fell from the fucking sky in the middle of their war, and then proceeded to have a short shouting match with Whitebeard, the strongest man in the world.

The kid fought countless enemies far stronger than himself simply to reach his big brother.

The kid punched Garp the Hero in the face, making the old man choose between family and duty. (And Garp, kind of, chose family.)

The kid _freed_ Ace from his chains.

And now? The kid wasn't even awake, and he somehow made Portgas D. Ace turn around and run _away_ from his enemy.

Monkey D. Luffy somehow made their fiery, short-tempered youngest member choose to not face the enemy.

Soon, the pirates found themselves at the water. Everyone clambered onto _Moby's_ two through five. Whitebeard stepped onto _Moby 2_ and slashed down with his bisento, splitting the space between the land and water. The Whitebeard Pirates and their allies were finally sailing away from Marineford while the Marines began the chase over the water.

A small, pink-haired marine then shouted for everyone to stop. Something about how the marines were only sending their soldiers to a pointless death. Whitebeard couldn't help but send his respects to the young boy, and he glared when he saw Akainu approaching to kill the young marine. Then, Red-Haired Shanks arrived and declared the end of the war, sending Akainu flying with a single swing of his sword.

Only seconds after Shanks' arrival, Blackbeard's laugh rang over the battlefield. It stopped halfway when the traitor realized that the war was over and that there were no living Whitebeard Pirates on Marineford's land. Everything after that, Whitebeard and his crew didn't bother to pay attention to. They needed to tend to their injuries first.

**Author's Note:**

> So, uh, I actually wanted to expand more on Ace's Conqueror's Haki, and then relate it to Ace's brother complex because the first time he used it was also to protect Luffy (from Bluejam), but I wasn't sure how to write that out. ¯\\(' . ' )/¯
> 
> Also, Law and the Heart Pirates approach the Whitebeards and offer medical assistance, especially to Whitebeard and Luffy.


End file.
